1/23/2018

BUDGET/POLITICAL FIGURES/POLITICS: “The bipartisan group of senators who intervened to help end the government shutdown now faces an even more formidable task: freeing the Senate — and perhaps Washington — from its dysfunctional rut.
In sidestepping Senate leaders of both parties, members of the group have taken it upon themselves to not only quickly resolve an immigration dispute that has long defied answers, but also prove that the Senate’s frozen legislative gears can still turn…
It is a pragmatic group of centrists from both parties — a mix of red-state Democrats like Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota; independent-minded conservative Republicans, including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina; a possible presidential prospect in Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota; and a past vice-presidential nominee in Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia. It has senior Republican committee leaders such as Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, fellow Tennesseans, as well as a brand new member of the Senate in Doug Jones, Democrat of Alabama…
With a few more Democrats than Republicans among its members and a goal of bringing more from each side into the mix, the group intends to show that it can produce critical mass behind new immigration legislation as well as demonstrate the power of bipartisanship.”

-Carl Hulse, “Senators Race to Protect Immigrants, and Restore Their Institution,” The New York Times online, Jan. 23, 2018